(Bloomberg) — The havoc plaguing the U.S. travel industry will likely escalate this week as tighter federal restrictions on flights take effect, even while lawmakers move closer to ending the government shutdown.
The Federal Aviation Administration is requiring airlines to reduce their US operations by 6% from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time. That compares with the 4% mandate previously in place.
About 1,159 of Tuesday’s scheduled 22,811 flights — or about 5.1% — had been canceled by 5:40 a.m. New York time, according to data from FlightAware and aviation analytics company Cirium.
The highest number of cancellations so far were at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and New York’s LaGuardia Airport, respectively, according to FlightAware.
The FAA’s emergency order says reductions must reach 8% on Thursday and 10% starting Friday.
There are nascent signs of optimism that the 41-day government shutdown may soon be resolved after the Senate passed a temporary funding measure with the backing of eight centrist Democrats.
However, it’s unclear how quickly any deal would translate into a substantial easing of the disruptions. The funding package next needs to clear the Republican-controlled House, which is expected to consider it Wednesday, before going to President Donald Trump for approval.
That means it could be days before the travel backlog begins to ease, though the impact of the disruptions may linger even longer.
The cancellations kept some cockpit crews from getting where they were supposed to be for work, prompting airlines to begin tapping their ranks of reserve pilots, said Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines Group Inc. captain and spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association union.
With on-call pilots limited in the number of hours they can fly, the early use of reserve pilots may lead to a shortage when backup is most needed around Thanksgiving, he said.
On Monday, just under 2,100 flights, or about 8% of the total, were canceled. Snow around Chicago — one of the nation’s busiest aviation hubs — compounded the disruptions caused by staffing shortages.
That risk remains, with the National Weather Service warning of potential record-breaking cold weather sweeping across eastern and southeastern parts of the US. So-called lake-effect snow will continue to impact downwind areas of Lakes Erie and Ontario, it said.
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